NM Game Chief Pleads No Contest To Hunting Violations State Department of Game and Fish director Bruce Thompson pleaded no contest Friday to a combined charge of unlawful hunting and illegal possession in connection with a Lincoln County deer hunting incident last year. Thompson was fined $500 and sentenced to 182 days of unsupervised probation. Thompson, who earlier had pleaded not guilty, changed his plea Friday just hours before a scheduled bench trial with 12th Judicial District Division III Judge Karen Parsons in Carrizozo, District Attorney Scot Key said. Thompson originally faced two charges in connection with the November deer hunting incident: a charge in magistrate court for shooting a deer on private land without the owner's permission; and a charge in state District Court of illegal hunting/illegal possession. He received separate sentences from the two courts. The two 182-day probation periods will run concurrently, Key said, which means his probation could end in August. The charges stemmed from a Nov. 17 hunt in Lincoln County during which Thompson, who had a valid deer hunting license, shot a deer on the privately owned Diamond T Ranch. It is illegal to hunt on private property in New Mexico without written permission from the landowner, and Thompson had not received permission to hunt on the Diamond T....